Editorial: Danger on wheels

The Southern Gazette

Published: Sep 29, 2017 at 9:05 p.m.

Updated: Sep 30, 2017 at 1:43 a.m.

If you're driving, don't drink. If you're drinking … you get the picture.

For the second time in two weeks, RCMP in Halifax reported making six drinking and driving related arrests in a single night last Saturday. This week, it was two arrests in Cole Harbour, two in Tantallon and one each in Lower Sackville and Musquodoboit Harbour.

If you're driving, don't drink. If you're drinking … you get the picture.

In St. John’s on the same Saturday night, there were three drunk driving arrests, all people old enough to know better: a 35-year-old and a 52-year-old man, along with a 50-year-old woman who was arrested after driving into the back of a parked car.

In Charlottetown, a suspected impaired driver recently turned violent when being arrested for refusing to complete a sobriety test, and ended up facing multiple charges.

Then there’s this release from Newfoundland RCMP on Saturday: it’s not just cars or trucks. “Just after 3 p.m. … Clarenville RCMP stopped the driver of an ATV near Balbo Drive in Shoal Harbour, who was not wearing a helmet. Subsequent investigation led to the arrest of the male for impaired driving. The male’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit …” Three o’clock in the afternoon — three times the legal limit.

Meanwhile, almost two weeks ago, a Fredericton man facing 10 charges had his case delayed. He’s facing, among other things, impaired driving charges after hitting a motorcycle and seriously injuring two people on June 19. The man, Robert Drew Shannon, 40, is already facing charges from April involving — you guessed it — impaired driving and driving with a suspended licence.

It even extends to travel between the Atlantic provinces: a New Brunswick driver was arrested for impaired driving after leading Summerside, P.E.I. RCMP on a police chase on July 10 — the driver and two passengers were reportedly all drinking, and were headed from their campground to the Cavendish Beach music festival. Rock on? Rocks in their heads.

Does anyone think we have a serious problem here?

How can anyone not think we have a serious problem here?

More to the point, though, what is it going to take to deal with the problem?

It’s clear that there are people who simply don’t get the message that drinking and driving is unacceptable, and that, if you’re drinking (or using recreational drugs), you simply can’t get behind the wheel.

Yes, that makes it more difficult to get to where you’re going, whether it’s a trip home from the bar, a party, or even a drive to a local music festival.

But after all these years of carnage on highways, on rural roads, and at something as straightforward as a Fredericton roundabout, you’d think the message would be better heard.

Drinking and driving kills. On a more personal note, a conviction can also ruin your career, mar your reputation and drive your insurance through the roof.